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Dordt College JV Men's Basketball vs. Morningside

January 17, 2011

(Sioux Center, Iowa) By Jeremy Engbers (Dordt College Class of 2014)

Sweeping an opponent during a basketball season is always something you shoot for as a team. For the Dordt College JV Menís Basketball team, that goal was achieved as the Defenders came out victorious in both meetings with the Mustangs from Morningside College, the latter victory coming Monday Night. Dordt defeated a GPAC rival Morningside 72-62 in a very tight game that came down to the final minutes.

The Defender Men played as well as they had all season taking the lead early with the finishing ability of James Rylaarsdam and the quickness of Lawrence Coleman. Rylaarsdam dominated the first half, scoring 16 points in the first half. He finished with a team high 21 points. Early in the first half it seemed as if no one could stop the Defenders as they passed the ball at will and found Rylaarsdam down low for easy buckets. They stretched out a lead that extended to 16 at one point. That lead would suffer towards the end of the first half as the play became sloppier and Morningside was able to steal and convert. Dordt went into the locker room leading 39-27.

Morningside came out with a fire in the second half showing that they were not going to go down without a fight. The point guard Josh Lenz who scored a game-high 24 points, 16 of those coming in the second half, led the Mustangs in the charge. The Mustang big men held Rylaarsdam to only 5 points in the second half. Morningside cut Dordtís lead to as little as two points with 5 minutes left to play. Dordt was able to keep its head above water with two three-pointers of Ben Sytsma, a quick four points from Alex Davelaar, a timely steal and three point play from James Rylaarsdam, and the excellent free throw shooting by Matt Vande Kamp. Vande Kamp hit 6-8 free throws in the final minutes to put the game out of reach for Morningside.

When the buzzer sounded, Dordt came out the victors in the contest with the win over Morningside 72-62. Both teams played very hard, but in the end, the Defenders wanted the win more.